Author Archives: wendyk

We’re extremely busy preparing for our trip to Zambia at the end of the month. This visit will include delivering training and installing solar panels at a school in Monze newly built by Friends of Monze.

Then it’s down to Siavonga to visit the 14 schools where we have previously installed solar panels over the last four years. We want to check that all the equipment there is functioning well and being properly maintained. We have supplied Raspberry Pi computers running RACHEL learning resources and we want to see which modules are most useful. We intend to assess the impact our project has madein the district so far. We are able to undertake this activity thanks to funding from The Waterloo Foundation.

At the end of the trip, we will spend a few days training teachers in Chilanga District.

Last Wednesday a good friend took 44 PCs and 60 monitors to Folkestone for shipping to the Department of Education in Siavonga. These were donated by a company which wishes to remain anonymous. We are grateful to Operation Sunshine for facilitating this delivery.

Meanwhile we were busy showing teachers here how to refurbish the PCs by adding hard drives and an operating system.

Despite it being a Saturday, several enthusiastic teachers agreed to join us at Siavonga Teachers’ Resource Centre to set up equipment.

We are using some donated PCs to create a small network for offline research. The centre very rarely has internet access but its users have regularly gained information and knowledge from the offline RACHEL learning resources.

Teachers will be able to browse in their free time or when attending meetings. They may also be able to make use of the PCs during teacher training sessions which are held there.

Today’s training session focussed on exploring various offline learning resources we are supplying.

Teachers used laptops to connect to a Raspberry Pi acting as a server for the RACHEL learning resources. Their task was to explore the many extensive modules and locate information that would tie in with their Schemes of Work.

One teacher from a school with no mains power chose to look at African StoryBooks. The Raspberry Pi server can be run from a good phone charger or power bank.

Kolibri resources can be downloaded on to a laptop. Teachers can monitor use of the various modules by individual pupils.

This morning we had a very useful meeting with The District Education Board Secretary and her Standards Officer. We discussed our program and advised them of our progress.

Yesterday teachers agreed to meet once a month to share and solve IT issues. They will report back to us so we can better identify the problems facing them.

We discussed the best way to refurbish the PCs that have already arrived and those in transit. The Standards Officer will allocate them according to school needs.

We explained our next visit, (planned for June), which will be focussed on finding out the impact we have had so far. We will be carrying out interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions. We will also be looking at school statistics.

DEBS has kindly offered to provide transport to do the solar installations next week- dependent on road conditions.

The purpose of today’s workshop was to show teachers how to repair network cables. This avoids them having to scrap damaged cables. They will be able to simply cut them and put new ends on. Each school has a tester kit which they can use to check that everything is wired correctly.

We went outside to measure a long length of cable to extend the wireless access to the staff room.

The purpose of today is to explain how to refurbish an old PC or
laptop by adding a hard drive and an operating system. Thanks to a
generous donor in UK, we have already brought more than 100 PCs and
monitors to Siavonga.

This training will
enable teachers and IT technicians to get the machines up and working
for use in their schools. They will understand the hardware, firmware
and software.

This training was
designed to introduce the principles of solar installation to
teachers from three remote rural schools where we will be installing
solar panels next week. Teachers came from Dibbwi, Manchamvwa Inland
and Nashongo primary schools.

After some
explanation of how solar power works, and how to care for a solar
system, it was hands-on to connect the panels in pairs. The teachers
will transport the equipment to their schools and Giakonda Solar
Schools will oversee installation next week.